Safia Elhillo (Arabic: صافية الحلو; born December 16, 1990) is a Sudanese-American poet known for her written and spoken poetry.

[1] Elhillo has shared the stage with notable poets such as Sonia Sanchez and has taught at Split This Rock[2] and Tin House Summer Workshop.

[6] Her poems have appeared in many publications, including Poetry, Callaloo, and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-day series,[7] among others, and in anthologies including The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, Women of Resistance: Poems for a New Feminism,[1] and New Daughters of Africa.

[17] Elhillo received a 2018 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation.

[14] In "Bright Red Fruit", Elhillo explores the complexities of identity and the longing for love using both verse and narrative.